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US-China Agreement on Super Climate Pollutant Could Make an Important Dent in Curbing Climate Change

Over the weekend President Obama and Chinese President Xi agreed to work together to phase-down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)—a “super greenhouse gas”. They agreed to work under the Montreal Protocol – the 25 year old treaty that successfully saved the ozone layer and is now working to ensure the safety and climate friendliness of the replacement chemicals. This is very important since China had joined a limited number of countries in resisting the effort by more than 110 countries to secure an agreement to phase-down these chemicals. Effective implementation of the agreement will help address climate change and reduce the growth in both countries of this potent heat-trapping chemical that is primarily used in air conditioners, refrigerators, and industrial applications. (As my colleague David Doniger said this agreement is a “big deal” and one of the top three actions that these two countries could agree to as we have previously noted).

“to work together and with other countries through multilateral approaches that include using the expertise and institutions of the Montreal Protocol to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs…”

To speed up the transition, two groups of countries have proposed phase-down proposals under the Montreal Protocol – the “North American proposal” (from the U.S., Mexico, and Canada) and the Federated States of Micronesia proposal. Both contain features similar to previous phase-down rounds in the Montreal Protocol: (1) developed countries lead with the phase-down; (2) developing countries follow with a several year delay in their phase-down schedule (see figure*); and (3) through a dedicated fund developed countries provide technical and financial support to help developing countries with the transition. The Montreal Protocol fund has delivered over the years – with more than $3 billion provided for the various chemical transitions, helping developing countries to more quickly phase out ozone-depleting chemicals. An agreement under the Montreal Protocol would unlock resources now for reducing production of global warming HFCs – countries wouldn’t have to wait several years for the possibility of funding coming through other venues (e.g., the climate negotiations).

Obviously this agreement doesn’t take the onus off of the U.S., Europe, and other developed countries to act at home. As part of the greenhouse gas standards for cars in the U.S., car makers are replacing HFCs with chemicals that have less than one percent of the climate impact. And a number of groups, including NRDC, are pushing for a broader phase-down in the U.S. under existing law. Similarly, the E.U. currently has a phase-out of high-GWP coolants for new cars through their “Mobile Air Conditioner Directive”. And the E.U. has proposed an “F-gas Directive” that will phase down all uses of HFCs by two-thirds from today’s levels – they expect to finalize that proposal this year or early next year.